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Fujifilm 33mm f1.4 vs 35mm f1.4—the choice may seem complicated, but once you understand the differences, there’s one winner between the lenses.
The choice is quite clear to me, but it may not be for you, depending on how you shoot.
However, the most significant benefit of the 33mm comes at a price.
If you are willing to pay the price tag of the 33mm, buy it.
There’s no other suitable reason other than cost, which suggests you should buy the 35mm.
That’s not to say the 35mm isn’t a good lens.
It is.
But after all, the 33mm superseded the 35mm as an upgraded lens and, with it, an upgraded price tag.
I’ve used both lenses extensively.
The 35mm was my trusty travel companion for over a decade before I replaced it with the now-trusty 33mm.
I’ve reviewed them both, so if you’d like more details and to see plenty of pictures taken on each lens, check out the links below.
Read:
Fujifilm 33mm f1.4 vs 35mm f1.4
What’s the Same?
There are two similarities between the lenses.
The focal lengths and the apertures, and that’s about it.
They provide a standard focal length equivalent to 50mm on full-frame cameras, where the 33mm is 50.5mm and the 35mm is roughly 53mm, so ever slightly longer, but near enough for argument’s sake.
Beyond the similarities, they differ in their design, technology and performance, which I’ll expand on in each section below.
In the meantime, here’s a snapshot of the most noticeable pros and cons.
Lens Pros
- Both are small & light
- Both have wide apertures
- Both are robust
- 33mm has better image quality
- 33mm has weather sealing
& Cons
- 33mm is expensive
- 35mm has chromatic aberrations when wide open
- 35mm not weather sealed
Optics & Image Quality
Overall, both lenses have decent optical quality across the board.
That’s hard to deny.
However, the 33mm outperforms the 35mm in one area important to me.
When shooting wide open with high contrast subjects, you will notice chromatic aberration in the 35mmm.
You’ll see an example if you head to the Fujifilm 35mm f1.4 review.
However, you’ll be glad to know the problem disappears once you stop down a bit, so if you don’t often shoot wide open, you’ll be fine.
If you are like me and don’t, this fault is a good indication of which lens you should choose.
What’s interesting about the aberrations is they are often referred to as an accolade for the lens, producing film-like results and a pleasant character, which I’m not sure I agree with.
I’d go as far as to say the problem is a design fault and not a design feature, which was why I switched lenses – I wanted the best optical quality when shooting wide open.
Apart from the aberrations, I don’t think you’ll notice a significant difference in what the lenses render – they both produce wonderful imagery.
Build & Handling
Both lenses are small and light and perfect for travel photography or if you’re into minimalist travel photography kit.
The Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4 is smaller and lighter than the 33mm f/1.4—it weighs 187g instead of 360g.
The difference is almost 200 grams, but you are unlikely to feel much difference between the two.
They both feel perfectly balanced and at home on my Fujifilm X-T5.
Both lenses feel robust and have the classic feature of a Fujifilm lens – the aperture ring.
The 33mm has a lock button on its aperture ring to prevent inadvertently rotating to the auto aperture feature, which the 35mm doesn’t have.
Is that useful?
It’s hard to say because I rarely rotate the aperture ring that far around, but if you do, it might be helpful.
Aside from size and weight, the most significant difference in the build of the two lenses is the weather sealing, which the 33mm has but the 35mm lacks.
Is it that useful? You’ll have to be the judge of that and whether you take your lens in wet or dusty conditions.
Undoubtedly, the weather sealing, optical design, and autofocus motor contribute to the increased size and weight of the 33mm.
The 33mm has 15 lens elements inside, whereas the 35mm has 8.
That’s an increase in elements of almost 90%, which has helped control those aberrations.
Autofocus
The Fujifilm 35mm features an older stepping motor for autofocus, which is slower and noisier than the Fujifilm 33mm, which features a linear motor.
I have never had a problem with the 35mm autofocus.
It has always been good enough for my needs, but the 33mm is better, which you would fully expect given the 33mm superseded the 35mm.
Thanks to its linear motor, the 33mm is fast and almost silent, making it an absolute pleasure to shoot with.
Lens Specs
For full specs, head to the Fujifilm website for each lens:
| Fujifilm 33mm f1.4 | Fujifilm 35mm f1.4 | |
| Focal length | 33mm (equivalent to 50.5mm) | 35mm (equivalent to 53mm) |
| Max aperture | f/1.4 | f/1.4 |
| Min aperture | f/16 | f/16 |
| Weight | 360g | 187g |
| External dimensions (DxL) | 67×73.5mm | 65×54.9mm |
| Filter size | 58mm | 52mm |
| Lens construction | 15 elements in 10 groups | 8 elements in 6 groups |
| Angle of view | 46.6° | 44.2° |
| Number of diaphragm blades | 9 | 7 |
| Focus range | 30cm – ∞ | 28cm – ∞ |
| Max magnification | 0.15x | 0.17x |
| Weather sealing | Yes | No |
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